Robert Pattinson first read the script, but passed it on because he thought a movie like this would never get financed because he couldn't really categorize it. A few weeks later, he randomly watched the directors previous film Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014) at the cinema and loved it. Wanting to know who the directors were, he asked his agent about them and found out that he read the script for Damsel a few weeks earlier.
Mia Wasikowska and Robert Pattinson were supposed to star in another western called Brimstone (2016). Both dropped out from the production weeks before filming began.
In Memory of Joseph Billingiere, who played 'Zachariah Running Bear', and Brad Prather, who appeared in the Zellner's previous film Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014).
Robert Forster's first role in a Western film since his second role in a feature film La noche de la emboscada (1968) literally 50 years earlier,
Filmed on location in Utah with special thanks to the State of Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development and the Utah Film Commission.